Park(ing) Day Tomorrow

by Peter Smith   

Park(ing) Day

What is it?

National Park(ing) Day is an opportunity to celebrate parks in cities and promote the need for more parks by creating temporary public parks in public parking spaces. National Park(ing) Day is Friday, September 19, 2008. Read the announcement.

2008 National Parking Day The now-worldwide sensation known as ‘Park(ing) Day’ was created by our very own San Francisco-based ReBar Group. Rock on, y’all.

Here’s a Google Map of locations here in San Francisco (larger map):


View Larger Map

A PDF of those locations is here.

There’s a Google Group if you have questions.

Check out ParkingDay.org for more details, including a HowTo Manual (pdf).

And below is a text listing of locations from that PDF. Each line usually includes the name of the new, temporary park, who it is being done by, and the street address. I’ve bolded one which appears to be quite interesting:

“Entangled” Park: 24th and Bartlett

“Forest” of water bottle trees by Electric Works 130 8th Street

90 Degrees: 3600 Geary Street - 11am poetry readings by San Francisco poet Carolyn Miller.

BAR Architects Park: 543 Howard St

Candy Dapple Park by Winder Liebes Architects: 351 Ninth Street, between Folsom and Harrison

Chuck of Green Park by The San Francisco Parks Trust, Visitation Valley Greenway, and Mission Roots: 1 Sansome Street at Market

Architects Park, David Baker & Partners: 2nd & Bryant St

Dune Scrub Park II: Permeability: Sutter Street btwn Montgomery and Trinity Place

Earth Flags by Mary V. Marsh: 3rd Between Mission & Howard (SFMOMA)

From Parking Space to Picnic Place 867 Valencia between 19th & 20th

Front Porch @ the Urban Center: 654 Mission Street Title: 11:00 - 2:00

Fruit Trees Park by Urban Forest & Rainbow Grocery: 13th St & Folsom

Golden Owl Park - Ritual Roasters: 1026 Valencia St, between 21st and 22nd

Honey Ryder Park: 564 Hayes

House of Water by Lutsko Associates In front of Starbucks on Byrant at street Mariposa.

Jackson & Montgomery Park: Montgomery St. and Jackson St.

Jay & Michael’s Wedding Day Park 137 Scott St. 2:30 p.m. - 5:00 Supervisor Bevan Dufty will arrive at 3:30 to officiate very brief wedding ceremony

Mini Golf Course Park by Method: Sacramento & Front St

Momy Toby’s Cafe Park: 528 Laguna

Native Nursery Pocket Park(ing): Valencia, between 23rd & 24th, near 24th

Neighborhood Parks Council Park(ing) Space: Linden Alley between Hayes and Fell and Octavia and Gough

Nomads Park: 556 Hayes St

Pack, Stack and Wrap Park by BAYA Grant at O’Farrell

Paper Moon Park - Aguamala, DPW and RPD: Polk Street at City Hall: 11:30-1:30

Paper Park by Field Paoli Architects 150 California Street

Park & Play by the Cossutius Chapter of Alpha Rho Chi: 1111 Eighth Street

Park by CB Richard Ellis | Asset

Services: California St & Drumm St

PARK(ing) Day Everyday: The Mission Streetscape Plan: 16th Street between Valencia and Guerrero

Park(ing) Forest by Monica Viarengo: 1st street and Ecker

Park[ed] Car: Front of City Hall

Pirate’s Parlay Park: Valencia Street (Between 19th and 20th)

Planktown Neighbors Park by Jake Tobias: 1360 Mission Street (between 9th and 10th)

Propeller Park: 555 Hayes

Quatrine Park: 355 Hayes St

Rebuilding Together San Francisco’s Living Room: Embarcadero at Howard St.

San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Bike Park: 17th St at Valencia

SF Dept. of the Environment: Duck Pond | Paddleboat Park: 11 Grove St.

Share Our Cars, Make More Space: New Montgomery & Mission

Sharon Reaves Gallery Park: 235 Gough

Siol Park - Narrowing in on a New Street Hierarchy: Fillmore Street, North of

Sacramento and Fillmore intersection

Solar Flora Park by Leah Korican: 3rd Between Mission & Howard (SFMOMA)

Temple Nightclub Park: 540 Howard

The Sweet Spot - CasaSugar and the Sugar Girls do Park(ing) Day: Howard Street, between 2nd & New Montgomery

The Trust for Public Land, New Montgomery & Mission

True Sake Park: 560 Hayes

Van Meter Williams Pollack Park: 543 2nd street between Federal & De Boom

Ver Unica Park: 437B Hayes

Water Park(ing) by Charlie Milgrim and Tim West: 3rd Between Mission & Howard (SFMOMA)

Zonal Art Park: 568 Hayes, Art installation by: Mark Baugh-Sasaki

One interesting aspect to Park(ing) Day is, now that I’ve read some of ‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities’ (ref page), I’m no longer just a “hey, let’s throw up new parks everywhere” person - we need to be careful how we construct them, where we put them, how we improve them, etc. I still very much agree with the general sentiment - more parks, more green, more space for people, less for cars - that’s the important thing to consider for Park(ing) Day.

(Thanks to Stewf for the picture.)

the Chronicle jumps in.

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